10 Must Have Buys for the Spiritual Materialist.
Spirituality as fashion or lifestyle statement.
Are you a neo-hippie/faux-Buddhist? Want everyone to know how holy you are? Read on!
1. Mala on wrist; never used for actual meditation practice
2. Tattoo of OM (“it means, you know…the light inside of me bows to the light inside of you.” [See comment at bottom])
3. Lululemon as everyday wear
4. Co-exist bumper sticker on hybrid SUV Lexus
5. walk around with PVC yoga mat
6. GT’s Kombucha.*
7. email signature includes “injoi” or “all one family”
8. frequent Burning Man references: “Oh, I shouldn’t go to Whole Foods after kirtan; gotta save up for Burning Man.”
9. Half-destroyed TOMS.
10. café accessory: Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle or, cunningest of all, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism book with unbent spine.
Bonus Points
EC: Vision Boards; sage incense; Dr. Bronner’s; Prius; Essential Oils in lieu of deodorant, cologne, perfume; altar on dashboard or sacred stuff/ feathers/ dream catcher hanging from rearview mirror, Dalai Lama or Rumi or Hafiz or Buddha quote book on toilet; live in Boulder, Berkeley, Madison, Lincoln, Lawrence, Brooklyn, Santa Monica or Venice, Austin, Ashland, Asheville, Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Flagstaff; vacation in Belize, Costa Rica, India or Tibet; subscribe to elephantjournal.com
What’d I forget?
Incorrect source, offensive, or found a typo? Or do you want to write for Elephant?
a lot easier than saying something nice or constructive. I'm sure this article will make a lot of people feel uncomfortable and insecure.
Btw girls if you have one of these things that's nice and sexy but if you have all ten(and even if it isn't a hybrid suv Lexus) you're way a head of the curve. Keep going upward and onward.
So funny! I seem to be lacking terribly, but I do have a laughing Buddha in the kitchen. He pokes fun at my mad housework procrastination skillz.
I empathize with some of the commenters who said they needed their trappings. I loved that OM symbol so much as a teenager. I wore the beads. It helped to remind me to say 'no thanks' to meat. I guess there is a time and place for stuff. We are spiritual creatures in a material world, after all.
I just discovered the benefits of spiritual materialism and it has made my life much more fulfilling. Now I can focus on what is really important, i.e wine, philosophical conversations, women, and my practice, etc. rather than beating myself up about what path I'm on. Thanks elephant!
[...] all been there at one point or another…we elephant journal readers. I’m sure of it. Whether we bike to work, drive a Prius, compost food or whatever the [...]
If we are going to mock yoga materialism,why arent we mentioning the fact that there is a western body that says what yoga programs are good by making them pay dues to belong to their organiztion. There are many good yoga schools in India, for example, that dont belong to Yoga Alliance. It is natural to want to create objects, structures and create standards for things. Yoga has certainly come out of the jungles when it came to the US, which is exactly what its proponents from India wanted. I think it does more good than harm to have these structures in place, but yes they are materialistic. The challenge is living a yogic lifestyle amongst all these distractions we have in the modern world: to be with them, but not of them. My teachers say our modern integrated lifestyle is harder than living a sage's life in the jungle.
[...] me, this book is the quintessential punk rock thesis on spirituality. It cuts through all of the bullshit of spiritual materialism by very clearly laying out the most common pitfalls spiritual aspirants, both new and old, fall [...]
I’m slacking!!!! Must schedule trip to India today.
[...] if we provide seven billion people on this planet with the same level of life and comfort, material comfort, as an average American citizen has, we need four and a half planets. But we have only one. So if [...]
bahahahahaha! ♥
the light inside of me bows to the light inside of you = NAMASTE not OM
The Buddha statue that was duct taped to the console of my 1996 Econoline now sits on a smoke-stained embroidered cushion, atop a little bench, under which my wife's shoes sit, and if I remember I sit in meditation for the time it takes the tea-water to boil. I have one of Pema Chodron's books, "The Places That Scare You," but I wear a cross, within a heart, woven from blue and read threads pulled from jailhouse blankets. I've had this amulet since 2004, when a group of Mexican fellow-prisoners gave it to me, and invited me to pray with them. I joined them, went to my hearing the next day, and was released on an ankle bracelet. I was forbidden by the hearing officer from resuming my studies at Naropa. He cited "narcissism and drug use" in the student body. So came it came to pass that I dropped out for the second time from "Buddhist U," and did as I was told, until finally my period of parole ended. I clean toilets and showers sometimes, and move other people's belongings for them. I'm clueless and lost. Far removed from the Dharma and Sangha I can only try to set realistic goals, like finding my shoes in the morning.
if you need new shoes, why not Tom's? (yes i own a pair of half-beaten Tom's). I keep hearing all this stuff white people shouldn't do, too. Like meditation and yoga. Re-appropriating someone else's culture. Is it better to deprive our own souls from what can be gained from these practices? i'm actually asking the questions. Everything is confusing as s***t. I'm suffering and I have no roots. And the obvious response is that someone like me has no right to complain. Anything I try to do or think I believe seems to be wrong. We're supposed to practice love but if I try to help any one with less advantages than myself then its pretentious or not my place to care, what do I know of their struggles. Its like i'd be more accepted if I followed mainstream f*****d up culture. Please help
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elephant journal is full of a bunch of judgement spiritual phonies…keep passing judgement if that makes you feel better about yourselves…
Hey, this list isn't meant to be too serious…I have many of these things…it's more in spirit of making fun of ourselves, and remembering what all these "spiritual" things are for…
Where can I get a buddha for my bike??
unless you read all the "holy" books as part of your education in comparative religion or anthropology.